Direction-signal for vehicles



' July 29, 1930. E. A. ANDERSON DIRECTION SIGNAL FOR VEHICLES Filed Jan. 51, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 29, 1930. ANDERSON 1,771,566

DIRECTION SIGNAL FOR VEHICLES I Filed Jan. 31, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 29, 1930 v UNITED STATES PATENT? ol="l-:lC.r..

EIIN'AR A. ANDERSON, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

DIRECTION-SIGNAL FOB VEHICLES Application filed January 31, 1929. Serial No. 386,488.

My invention provides a simple and highly 1 and showing the rear direction indicator; eflicient direction indicator for automobiles Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the rear direcwhereby the direction signals will be protion indicator showing the rear fender to duced with a flashing action preferably both which it is applied in transverse section 5 at front and rear of the vehicle. For exam? Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the manan ple, if the machine is about to turn toward ner in which the casing which contains the the left, the signals at front and rear will be control switch, the flasher switch and the flashed to indicate, alternately, left turnmotor may be conveniently a plied to the left-turn, and if the vehicle is about to be Steering post of the automobi e; and

turned to the right, the signals at front and Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating 00 rear will be flashed to indicate, alternately, the manner in which the various parts of the. right-turn-right-turn. The flashing of these complete direction indicator are electrically signals, it has been found, will much more connected. quickly attract attention than. will simply The automobile is indicated as an entirety the steady illumination of a signal indicatby the numeral 7. The arrangement of the o5 i g i ht or l ft t several lamps or signal devices that make up carrying out the invention, properly the complete direction indicator may be vad i 1 lamps ill b li d to th med, but preferably they are arranged in front and t e rear of the vehicle and these ree asings, to Wit: two front casings 8' lamps will be connected in a, circuit that inand one rear Casing 9. AS ShOWH, the front 7 eludes, in addition to the lamps and co-opercasings 8 are applied one to each of the front ating means for flashing the signals right f rs nd the rear casing 9 is applied to and left turn as above noted, (a) a control he l ft-hand and rear fender of the autoswitch arranged to be set at will in a neutral l'l position for no indication whatever, in a In theleft-hand front casing 8 is a pair of 75 position at the right for flashing of rightelectric llght bulbs 10 and 10; in the right-- turn signals, and in a position at the left hand front casing 8 is a pair of light bulbs 11 for left-turn signals; (6) a rotary flasher and 31*; and in the rear casing 9 is two pairs switch for successively opening and closing of lightbulbs 12-12 and 13- -13. The bulbs the circuits to the lam s for proper indica- 1010 and 1212 are for, flashing left-turn ac tions; and (a) a smal electric motor for signals, while the bulbs 1111 and 1313" driving the rotating member of the flasher are for flashing right-turn signals. As shown, switch and having a circuit arranged to be all of these light bulbs are grounded on one opened in the neutral position of the control side and on their other sides are electrically switch, but to be closed when the control connected to contacts of the flashing switch, 8 switch is set either for right or left indias follows: Left-hand front bulb 10 and leftation I hand rear bulb 12 are by leads 14: connected A preferred embodiment of the invention to the fixed contact 15; left-hand front bulb is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, 10 and left-hand rear bulb 12* are by leads 16 wherein like characters indicate like parts connected to fixed contact 17 that is dia- 90 throughout the several views. metrically opposite the contact 15; right-hand Referring to the drawings: front bulb 11 and right-hand rear bulb '13 Fig. 1 is a perspective showing the direc-,.. are by leads 18 connected to the fixed contact tion indicators applied to an automobile of 19 that is ninety degrees from or midway bestandard construction; tween contacts 15 and 17; and right-hand 95 Fig. 2 is a detail in section taken approxifront bulb 11 and right-hand rear bulb 13" mately on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and showare by leads 20 connected to fixed contact 21 ing one of the front direction indicators; that is diametrically opposite the fixed conig. 3 is a perspective showing the rear tact 19. Contacts 15, 17, 19 and 21 are the portion of the automobile illustrated in Fig. fixed contacts of the flasher switch and they are arranged for co-o eration with but are normally disengaged rom relatlvely movable contacts 15, 17 19 and 21, respectively,

of the same switch.

' be driven by a small electric motor 26, which motor in the diagram view, Fig. 6, is separated from said worm gear and contact closer. In practice, however, it Wlll be advisable to mount the above parts of the flasher switch in a casin 27 and the motor and the casing 28 and whic casing, as shown in Fig. 5, may be secured to the steering post 7 of the automobile.

The controller switch above referred to is preferably in the form of a lever 29 pivoted on'the motor casing 28 and arran ed to be engaged at will either with a pair 0 contacts 30-30 or witha pair of similar spaced contacts 31--3l. When switch 29 is in an intermediate or neutral position, it will be out of engagement with all of said contacts just noted. The numeral 32 indicates a storage battery which may be the battery of the car or an lndependent battery. This battery, on one side, is grounded and at its other side is connected to the cont ol switch 29 by a lead- 34: and both of these contacts are connected through said lead 34 and an extension lead 34" to one side of the motor 26, and said motor on its other side being grounded to a lead 35. Contact 30 by leads 36 is connected to the diametrically opposite relatively movable flasher contacts 15 and 17 while the contact 31 by leads 37 is connected to the dia-, metrically opposite flasher contacts 19and translucent light-emittin It should now be noted that the arrangement of the contact closer 23 and its co-operating parts are such that when the motor is thrown into action, said segment will be revolved and will progressively engage the movable contacts 19, 15, 21" and 17", and will force the said contacts respectively into engagement with the co-operating fixed contacts 19, 15, 21 and 17 thereby producing signals or direction indications as presently to be more definitely described.

- The front casings 8 on their front faces, respectively, in front of the light bulbs 10 and 11 are provided with transparent or g passages that indicate, respectively, left and right, while in front of the bulbs 10 and 11 they are provided with transparent or translucent lightemittingpassages that indicate turn. The rear casing 9 at its rear face isprovided at the rear, respectively, of bulbs 12 and 13 with light-emitting passages that indicate,'respec- I tively, left and right,"while aligned with bulbs 12' and 13, said casing 9 is provided with light-emitting passages'that indicate.

turn.v The casing 9 at its central portion is shown as provided with a stop-indicating signal which constitutes no part of the pres.- ent invention and which, if employed, would be under control of a lamp and circuit arranged to be opened and closed by the manipulation of the brake pedal.

Ina general way, the operation of this direction-indicating mechanism has already been indicated, but a more exact operation thereof may be traced as follows: When the control switch 29 is inits. intermediate or .neutral position, all the leads will be out and the motor 26 will be idle, When switch 29- is moved to either extreme position, the motor.

circuit will be closed and the motor, being thrown into action, will cause rotation of the segmental contact maker or cam 23, which, as already stated, will successively engage the movable contacts of the flasher switch. If control switch 29 is set toward the left, as shown in Fig. 6, the battery works to the front and rear bulbs 10l0 and 1212 will be closed between contacts 30 and 30 and the circuits to these lamps will then be alternately closed as follows:

When contact-closing'circuit 23 moving in a counter-clockwise direction, presses contact 19 against contact 19, the circuit through the light bulbs that flash right turn signals will not be closed because the circuit will then be broken between contacts 31 and 31, and the same statement willbe true when contact 23 later forces contact 21 against contact 21. -When, however, segment 23 forces contact 15 against contact 15, circuits to front and rear lamps 10 and 12, which lamps indicate left will be closed thereby flashing the signal left and when segment 23 forces contact 17 against contact 17, circuits to front and rear lamps 10 and 12' will be closed, thereby giving the signal turn; and, of course, these-signals left and turn will alternately be flashed as long as lever 29 remains in its position shown by full lines in Figure 6. When control lever 29 is set in its extreme position toward the right or against contacts 31 or 31, the flashing operation just described will then take place through the front and rear lamps 11-11 and 1313 and the front bulbs for indicating left turn will remain dormant and in open circuits because their circuits will then be open between the contacts 3030". "1

The direction-indicating system described is not only efficient for the purposes had in illustrated a preferred arrangement which,

however, may be modified within the scope of the invention herein disclosed and claimed.

The invention above described may be carried out in connection with various auxiliary indications such as direction-indicating arrows and signals flashed in color. For example, the signals flashed to indicate left-turn might be in red and the signals flashed to indicate right-turns in green.-

What I claim is:

A direction indicator for vehicles compris- 

